A man is in police custody after investigators say he kidnapped and carjacked the sister and niece of a Ferndale businesswoman at gunpoint shortly after they left the business Thursday evening.

“During the kidnapping event, the armed gunman forced the 45-year-old mother to cooperate by holding her 12-year-dold (daughter) as a hostage,” Ferndale Police Lt. William Wilson said in a statement.

Police learned later the carjacking happened in Detroit on Livernois, a few miles south of Eight Mile Road. Police refused to identify which Ferndale business or owner contacted them about incident.

The Ferndale businesswoman got a cellphone call from her sister as the suspect was in the vehicle with her and her daughter, police said.

Advertisement

The mother “sounded scared and told her (sister) to meet her with $200 in the parking lot of the Foodland store in Ferndale,” Wilson said. “Before arriving with the money, the sister received another call from the (victim) changing the location to the area of Livernois and Davidson in Detroit.”

The Ferndale businesswoman drove into Detroit and was eventually instructed to follow the carjacked vehicle – in which the mother, daughter and suspect were travelling – to a remote area.

The businesswoman followed instructions by cellphone to get out of her car and give the money to her hostage sister, who stopped and got out of her vehicle.

“In the back seat of the victim’s car was a man who could not be seen through the tinted windows,” Wilson said. “He was ordering the victim what to do. After the money exchange, the victim quickly drove away.”

The businesswoman contacted Ferndale police and officers were able to contact the victim’s cellphone carrier and began getting coordinates of where her vehicle was travelling, Wilson said.

The kidnapped mother then called her sister again.

The mother “said she needed her sister to meet her with more money and gave another location in Detroit,” Wilson said.

Ferndale investigators worked with Detroit and state police. During the kidnapping episode the suspect carjacked another vehicle and forced the mother and daughter into that vehicle before returning to the mother’s vehicle again, police said.

A Ferndale officer finally spotted the mother’s vehicle in Detroit. At that point Detroit Police and State Police officers took over and rescued the mother and daughter.

Wilson said the suspect fled on foot but was found hiding in a basement on Phillips Street near the Chalmers and Harper area in Detroit.

“The suspect is being held by Detroit police since the carjacking and rescue took place in that city,” Wilson said.